Asthma Education Month: Day 1. Why an education month?

So, May is Asthma Awareness Month. Now, by virtue of the fact that some 8.4% of the population in my country have asthma, it’s almost impossible to be unaware of asthma. For this reason, I think an “awareness” month is rather unnecessary – everyone is aware of asthma. Asthma doesn’t need an awareness month.

What asthma needs is an education month.

For a disorder that is so damn common, there sure is a lot of misinformation out there. A lot. A lot a lot a lot.

So much so that on a several-times-a-day basis, I encounter comments and questions that are strange, offensive, ignorant and oftentimes just plain wrong.

So, for the past few months, I’ve been working on a series of posts that will be aimed at spreading good information, correcting bad information, and generally educating people about a disorder that I’ve had since infancy.

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I’m really excited about this. I have been having a lot of respiratory problems lately and my boyfriend is very insistent I talk to a doctor about it maybe being asthma. While I admit allergies definitely don’t fit what I’m going through, I’m very nervous about talking to a doctor and being perceived as whining or wanting to be a victim, and since I know asthma is a serious disorder, I don’t want to seem like I WANT a serious problem when in fact my life isn’t impacted in any extreme way. Of course, any time you post anything having to do with asthma, my reaction is – every single time – “wow this is eerily similar to what I experience with whatever this breathing thing is.” I’m realizing I’m basing my health decisions both on not wanting to think of diseases and disorders as they are stereotyped (e.g. knowing that asthma is a lot more than a blue puffer and bam you’re fine) but also lacking the education on the issue to make decisions based on anything EXCEPT common knowledge/stereotype. Anyway, I eagerly await everything you have to say on this.

I am not a doctor, but the first-aider in me makes me say that anything involving breathing trouble shouldn’t be messed around with and you should err on the side of consulting a doctor. If if turns out your breathing stuff is something minor if unpleasant like exercise-induced bronchospasm (I’ll talk about that at some point this month – not sure when, exactly, but I will), well at least you know and can manage it. If it turns out that it’s asthma, it’s better to know and be able to treat it than to just suspect and wait and see – left untreated, asthma tends to worsen and can cause permanent lung damage. I’ll talk about airway remodelling in a later post, too. Furthermore, my asthma is relatively severe compared to most asthmatics’, so if you think “well, my breathing isn’t as bad or bothersome as hers,” well, that doesn’t exclude asthma.

Anyway, short version of what I’m trying to say is: don’t worry about whether or not you’re appropriating the disorder. If you think you might have it, you should probably talk with a doctor about it. 🙂